a model for how Queens & Kings design solutions for their community, inspired by the stories of their peers & elders.
OUR STUDENTS WERE BORN QUEENS & KINGS.
WE INVITE THEM TO BE THEIR NEIGHBORHOODS’ DESIGNERS
D.R.I.P. LAB
We’re banking on (untold) stories to start a movement, and we’ve learned you can’t pull up unannounced into our neighborhoods with cameras and microphones. That’s why we train queens & kings to offer something before asking to capture a story.
Our design process prepares Leaders of this movement to manage Soufside D.R.I.P.—their own fresh-pressed juice and lifestyle brand. Year round, Queens & Kings learn how to be entrepreneurs & creatives through D.R.I.P. Lab in collaboration with the Congress Heights Arts & Culture Center. — weekly programs equipping Queens & Kings to design, create, and distribute Soufside D.R.I.P. juice, and merchandise.
8 times a year Queens & Kings host thematic Community Health Days at partner locations in Southeast, DC. Each network gathering invites close to 100 members of their community to join them in yoga, chess, art, exercise, community partner facilitated conversations for healing, and a bottle of Soufside D.R.I.P.
Each bottle is distributed for FREE in exchange for a story about what solutions the recipient believes the Queens & Kings should design for the community.
Sharing your story and scanning the QR-code indicates you’ve opted in and are a part designing scalable goods, services, and experiences—alongside the greatest among us.
“Our community needs healing and we need to learn the truth about who we are.”
CAPTURE ACADEMY
To grow up in the Southside of Washington, DC is to grow up in an immensely nuanced and dynamic world. It’s a world that offers so much beauty, but it's also one haunted by the specters of systemic oppression. There is much that must be remembered, but there is also much that slips away. Our Queens & Kings stand bravely at those crossroads, using photography, short film, podcasting, and creative writing as tools to authentically capture their world and hold onto tragically fleeting truths.
The Creative School offers year round programming connecting world-class BIPOC Creatives to our Queens & Kings to train them in a variety of storytelling mediums. Currently, we offer 11-18 year olds Royal Exposure photography in collaboration with The Dojo Studios, and Kids Can Be Big podcasting, in collaboration with Caandor Labs.
Read about a founding Griot, Queen Zy, and her community solution, “Gums Not Guns.”
THE GRIOT FELLOWSHIP
Throughout the year, small cohorts of TCS’ Leaders (ages 14-18) are trained to be their community’s “Griots”—a traditional role in West African communities for the ones who keep track of the stories of their people.
Queens & Kings are trained in Story-Centered Design—equipping them to ideate, prototype, and test community based solutions that honor the stories of their peers & elders.
Each fellowship concludes in July with the Community Reunion—an annual Community Health Day that honors the queens & kings and families who have lost lives to gun violence. At The Community Reunion, Griots share their solutions they’ve designed that honor the stories captured throughout the year.